Unusual Ancient Egyptian Pillow Analyzed

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Most ancient Egyptian pillows were rather uncomfortable-looking headrests carved out of wood, ivory and stone, but scientists have just analyzed a 4,000-year-old Egyptian pillow made out of woven plant fibers that were encased in a wax coating.The rare artifact, which dates to 2055-1985 ..."

Most ancient Egyptian pillows were rather uncomfortable-looking headrests carved out of wood, ivory and stone, but scientists have just analyzed a 4,000-year-old Egyptian pillow made out of woven plant fibers that were encased in a wax coating.The rare artifact, which dates to 2055-1985 B.C., suggests Cleopatra and other well-known ancient Egyptians may have snoozed on relatively fluffy pillows that perhaps biodegraded over time, leaving the hard headrests for modern archaeologists tofind."If sleeping on fiber pillows and bedding occurred, it has not survived well or at all in the archaeological record of the ancient Near East," said Andy Gize, Judith Seath and Rosalie David, whose research will be published in next month's Journal of Archaeological Science.
Since the
wax on the pillow appears to have come from a Dead Sea petroleum
residue, the artifact also could indicate that a community of
"foreigners" brought knowledge of petroleum processing and pillow
making into the Sedment el-Gebel region of the western Nile Valley.
The pillow was unearthed in a cemetery there during a 1926 excavation.
Because the Egyptians believed in an afterlife, they ensured that the deceased could get a good night's rest.
"Many of the bodies atthe
cemetery were interred with matting, etc., which could have been used
for bedding," said the scientists, who all work at the University of
Manchester in England.

"Everyone would want a comfortable bed,
especially if it was for eternity!"
Using UV light, electron,
and infrared microscopes, the researchers determined that the plant
fibers belonged to Tigernut grass and yellow nutsedge plants. Their
analysis also suggests that the wax was derived from naturally
occurring bitumen that seeps around and into the Dead Sea in Israel and
Jordan.
They told Discovery News,
"The bitumen is called ozocerite, and is already enriched in the
compounds found in the pillow wax. We think they started with the solid
bitumen, which even floats as lumps on the Red Sea, not as a liquid
petroleum."
They added,"The bitumen
burns ......

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